Moreau-Style Stitching Clam

[Kulafarmer]

Nice job,,,

your pop has some mad skills, that piece came out excellent, 

so heres a stupid question,

ive seen these clams, never used one, how do you keep it closed?

i know, real stupid question

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Kulafarmer

[goingconcernMA]

1 hour ago, Kulafarmer said:

Nice job,,,

your pop has some mad skills, that piece came out excellent, 

so heres a stupid question,

ive seen these clams, never used one, how do you keep it closed?

i know, real stupid question

 

Thank you - not at all a stupid question. This style clam is designed to rest at a slight angle on your left leg (assuming you stitch right-handed), while your right leg applies pressure to keep the jaws closed. Now with that said, the "proof is in the pudding," so to speak, and I've not yet had the time to work up a project using this. It's a consideration that will be top of mind when I do so

 

In case it's causing any confusion, the strap on the inside is purely there for storage purposes

[Tugadude]

I love the look of wood grain and can really appreciate the finished appearance of this "tool".  It is too pretty to really call it a tool.  

Are you going to add the pieces onto it that help it stay on your thighs?  Not necessary, but look like they would be helpful.

 

[goingconcernMA]

4 hours ago, Tugadude said:

I love the look of wood grain and can really appreciate the finished appearance of this "tool".  It is too pretty to really call it a tool.  

Are you going to add the pieces onto it that help it stay on your thighs?  Not necessary, but look like they would be helpful.

Thanks! You know, I told my wife I wanted to hang it up, but I don't think she liked that idea all too much...

 

I've thought about adding a few of the other odds-and-ends that Fred's models have. I'm either going to add the little triangular "guides" on the inside of the jaws to help mitigate some of the lateral play that the hinges have, or I'm going to add an internal locking mechanism (not featured on the one you posted, but on several others he has done), though it's been incredibly hard for me to figure out which hardware to use for that. I would really like to do the leg guides, but I also see that as one of most difficult features since you've got to join it to a very curved section of the wood

[SickMick]

Excellent work!

[goingconcernMA]

I took the opportunity this weekend to pad the jaws and take the clam for a test drive:

All in all, it worked great! Still need to get used to the new stitching angle and find the optimal height to sit at, but happy that I'm able to get a fairly consistent stitch in the first go with a different setup. A definite area for improvement is getting the jaws to come together with a larger surface area, but it didn't take too much pressure from my legs to hold the leather securely while I stitched. I think an "extension" piece that sits inside the jaws may also be good to mock up for more delicate work. I can see myself running into difficulty trying to stitch something like a thin strap in here

[DanC]

The type of hinge you used is very sloppy.  It can be made a lot better but a judicious use of a wide piece of metal (just as wide as the width of one of the hinge leaves) and gently tapping each one tighter against the pin.  This will tighten up the play.  If the leaves already touch, then drive the pin out and put in a bigger pin.  A larger nail and a little drill press work should suffice to get you the right size pin.  When making the pin, make it just a bit oversized so it can be driven in.  It will then make a tight fit on its own.  This would be true even for a piano hinge, but they are a lot less sloppy by design, but would look better and give more hinge area and less slop.

[goingconcernMA]

On 11/17/2019 at 7:22 PM, DanC said:

The type of hinge you used is very sloppy.  It can be made a lot better but a judicious use of a wide piece of metal (just as wide as the width of one of the hinge leaves) and gently tapping each one tighter against the pin.  This will tighten up the play.  If the leaves already touch, then drive the pin out and put in a bigger pin.  A larger nail and a little drill press work should suffice to get you the right size pin.  When making the pin, make it just a bit oversized so it can be driven in.  It will then make a tight fit on its own.  This would be true even for a piano hinge, but they are a lot less sloppy by design, but would look better and give more hinge area and less slop.

I couldn't agree more that the hinge was a poor choice. Rather than reset the pin, I'll probably just replace it at some point with a mortised brass hinge with tighter tolerances. I'm actually building a new model at the moment where I'm doing just that. I should have it finished up soon and will post pics here when done, but here's a quick shot of the new hinge construction:

Edited December 31, 2019 by goingconcernMA

[goingconcernMA]

Version 2 of the clam complete! 

 

 

 

A few more pics in the album here: https://imgur.com/a/8W1pqUq

[Scoutmom103]

They are both beautiful.  Thank you for the pics and sharing it with us.